Non-geographic call charges

Note: This advice is given by the CAP Executive about non-broadcast advertising. It does not constitute legal advice. It does not bind CAP, CAP advisory panels or the Advertising Standards Authority.

On 1 July 2015, Ofcom changed the structure of non-geographic call charges. The cost of calling service numbers is now made up of two parts:

An access charge: This goes to the caller’s telephone company, charged as pence per minute.

A service charge: This is the remainder; it includes any revenue going to the service provider (that is you, the party being called), as well as revenue going to the ‘terminating call provider’ (or TCP: the company that provides the number to you).

Under Ofcom's policy advertisers need to state the service charge for any service numbers given in marketing materials, and make clear that an access charge applies. We recommend the format “Calls cost xp [or xp per minute] plus your telephone company’s network access charge.”

These rules will apply to all consumer calls to 084, 087, 09 and 118 numbers across the UK.